Liberty

I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.

Source: H. L. Mencken (unsourced)

The Unseen

Politicians love to talk about how many policemen or school lunches they are paying for, but they never tell you that they first took that money from the nice man who owns the hardware store on the corner. And that now he won’t be able to take his kids to see their aged relatives in India.

Source:  James Farber, Fictional Investment Banker
Taken from: A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, by Paul Rosenberg 2002

Half Slave, Half Master <> Free

But living half of one's life as a slave and half as the master is not the same as being free.

Jan Iwanik  (2/18/2011)

American Primacy

The classified document makes the case for a world dominated by one superpower whose position can be perpetuated by constructive behavior and sufficient military might to deter any nation or group of nations from challenging American primacy.

New York Times - March 8th, 1992

Oil

 oil is much too important a commodity to be left in the hands of the Arabs

Henry Kissinger

Apologize.

History makes at least one thing absolutely clear: regardless of the stated purposes and proffered justifications, the United States of America has been the cause and source of untold death, destruction, and damage. To say that we should not apologize for these stains on our nation’s standard of liberty is not only a reflection of the individual’s inadequate level of morality, but an indication that he or she might one day participate in similar atrocities.

Connor Boyack (March 8th, 2010)
in an article about Iran Air Flight 655, the Vietnam War, the 1953 Iranian coup d’état, 1973 Chilean coup d’état, the Banana Wars, Iraq, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Guantanamo.

Blowback

Colonel, I hope you’ve learned that an occupying foreign force can never defeat a determined local populace.

Lisa Simpson (The Simpsons, Episode G.I.D'oh)

Eager Trespass

We eagerly trespass one another's property interests out of an arrogance that threatens to destroy human society, if not humanity itself.

Butler Shaffer (Boundaries of Order 2009)

On Punishing Murderers

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

Voltaire (1771)

Reagan and Aggression

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap

Ronald Reagan

Self Defense

Legitimate use of violence can only be that which is required in self defense

Ron Paul

Initiation of Force

All initiation of force is a violation of someone else's rights, whether initiated by an individual or the state, for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals, even if it's supposed to be for the benefit of another individual or group of individuals.

Ron Paul